Most Chinese were unfamiliar with the term "electronic commerce" 10 or even five years ago. Only a small number of young people were interested in the brand-new concepts of online shopping, opening online shops and paying online back then. Today, most Chinese have used these services, especially online shopping, although the way e-commerce operates is still vague to most.

Interestingly, China's e-commerce sector has developed whenever there has been an economic crisis. It sprouted in 1999, the year just after the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis. Many Chinese e-commerce businesses, including Alibaba.com, Dangdang.com, Amazon.cn and Eachnet.com, which are still active or have developed into e-commerce giants today, all started that year.

The year 2009 has again seen Chinese e-commerce usher in a rapid development period. According to official statistics, the total transaction volume of China's customer-to-customer market reached 112.1 billion yuan ($16.41 billion), accounting for more than 1 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods. Industry insiders believe that e-commerce has developed into a potent business tool.

Back in September 1999, 8848.com, one of the earliest e-commerce platforms in China, launched 72-Hour Survival Experience, a program aimed at monitoring how long people could survive if they only ordered food online. However, the 12 participants finally found only one fastfood franchise in Beijing that received online orders. Today, consumers can purchase almost everything they want online. For example, as this year's Mid-Autumn Festival looms, many people are purchasing moon cakes, a special treat for the festival, via the Internet due to the convenience.

The rapid popularization of the Internet has contributed to the fast development of China's e-commerce sector. China overtook the United States as the world's largest country in terms of Internet users in June 2008. At the end of this June, the number of Chinese netizens had topped 338 million. The Internet penetration rate had reached 22.6 percent, a little higher than the global average of 21.9 percent.

In only 10 years, the Internet has become an integral part of daily life for many Chinese.